So, you want to change the world 140 characters at a time? Well, good for you. You’re not alone — there’s a whole army of queer Twitter activists out there who you need to be following.

Let’s check out some of the stars of Twitter activism so you can give them a follow and get engaged. (Like, politically engaged, not engaged to marry. Although if that happened it would be a pretty great cute-meet story.)

At the top of the list, of course, is Dan Savage, who’s been dispensing advice and attitude for years. Surely you follow him already. But do you also follow Bryan Safi? He’s a comedian whose That’s Gay segments were a highlight of Current TV, and now he co-anchors the podcast Throwing Shade with the equally hilarious Erin Gibson. The two of them analyze issues about women and gays and make you laugh embarrassingly in public places.

I just said out loud and to myself “I don’t give two shits,” and I have no idea what I was talking about.

And they’re far from the only LGBTs working in the media. Our favorite gay reporter these days is Chris Geidner, over at Buzzfeed. It’s kind of insane that a website devoted to cat GIFs is also one of the web’s best sources of breaking gay news, and it’s all thanks to Chris’ fantastic reporting. Kerry Eleveld is another star of queer journalism. Her work at The Advocate was must-read, and now she’s a free agent, free to journalism whatever she likes.

Of course, no discussion of queer journalism would be complete without a mention of Michelangelo Signorile and his radio show, Joe Sudbay, John Arvosis and AmericaBlog, and Bilerico co-founder Bil Browning.

But a lot of Twitter activists are operating on their own, unattached to traditional media outlets. (Good grief, did we just refer to blogging as “traditional media”? How times have changed.) You’ll definitely want to follow Ben Patrick Johnson, a Hollywood insider and hunky body who backs good causes. The Seattle Lesbian and Jane Wishon are two of our favorite eagle-eyed activists, as well as the amazing Pam Spaulding.

Then there’s Michael Crawford at Freedom to Marry, Philadelphia Radical Faerie Chris Bartlett, and Razorfish’s Eric Grant, who doesn’t only tweet about LGBT causes but has a variety of progressive causes on his radar. Ron Buckmire’s another activist with a variety of causes to support, as are Calvin Fleming and Christine Burns. Brian Elliot is the founder of Friendfactor and never stops innovating.

Randy Philips is still around, after setting the Internet on fire with his lovely YouTube videos about coming out in the Army. He’s great about interacting with followers. Andrés Duque tweets from a latino perspective, and Sarah Brown has the poly/trans/lesbian/herpetology perspective covered.

Speaking of trans, there is absolutely no excuse not to follow Janet Mock and Calpernia Addams, both of whom are brilliant communicators. Whenever a trans issue is in the news, they’re the first people we turn to for help understanding. But of course, Mara Keisling has the definitive word on all matters trans: brilliant, funny, geeky, and an unrelenting go-getter, we wish every nonprofit had such an inspiring ED.

In fact, let’s take a look at a couple of nonprofits that are doing amazing work. New York’s Queer Nation is always full of surprises, and GetEqual has never shied away from a tough fight. Basic Rights Oregon is gearing up for one heck of an election season, with a potential double-header of marriage equality and religious discrimination on the ballot this fall. And the I’m From Driftwood project continues to impress, with a never-ending parade of stories about the LGBT experience.

So there you have it — a ton of Twitter accounts all doing fantastic work. Go show ‘em some love!

The idea of Twitter activism is oxymoronic. The whole point of activism is to challenge power in meaningful ways and thereby effect social and political change. Yes, catchy slogans are great tools to mobilize movements, but that seems to be the entire substance of hashtag activism: 140-character bursts and nothing more.

Challenging power requires popular struggle and personal sacrifice. It does not include tweeting #smashthepatriarchy. It does not include a status update on facebook lamenting Citizens United. It certainly doesn’t include pithy, 140-character rejoinders to celebrities. These things are fine to do – I do them sometimes. But to call it activism is frankly just silly. What Twitter activism is is an easy way for people to feel like they’re doing something when in fact they’re doing nothing at all.